ABSTRACT

In patients under orthodontic treatment with fixed appliances, decalcification areas might occur on the teeth. Since it is known that decalcification is closely related to the loss of calcium, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether the acidic soft drinks caused any calcium loss in the etched and sealed tooth enamel. After cleaning 5 premolar teeth recently extracted for orthodontic purposes, etching and sealing processes were applied. Each tooth was separated into 4 equal pieces. After stereomicroscopic evaluation of these pieces, those 3 pieces with no cracks were included in the study. Of these 3 pieces, two pieces were exposed to Coca-Cola® and Fanta and the remaining piece was exposed to artificial saliva. The specimens were kept in the acidic soft drinks and artificial saliva three times a day for 15 minutes. In the rest of the time, they were stored in artificial saliva within separate experimental tubes. At the end of the fifth day, the amount of calcium release from the enamel into Coca Cola, Fanta, and saliva was measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The amount of calcium release into Coca-Cola and Fanta showed a statistically significant gradual increase. When the amount of calcium release into Coca-Cola and Fanta was compared with each other, no statistically significant difference was detected. Although the experiment duration was just five days in the study, calcium has released from the teeth to cola. As orthodontists, we should recommend our patients not to drink acidic drinks during their orthodontic treatments.